Apparatus for drying gas.



H. A. BRASSERT.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING GAS.

APPLICATION FILED ocT. I. 1915.

` 1,169,91 9., Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

HERMANN A. BRassER'r, oF'cHIoAGo, ILLINoIs.

'APPARATUS ron DRYING Gas.

.Application mea october 1",l 1915. serial No. 53,568.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HERMANN A., BRAsenana citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Gas, of which the yfollowing is va specification.

l My invention relates generally to the process of cleaning blast furnace gas for its useas a fuel in stovesl and under boilers, and specifically to produce a gas, which, after being washed to eliminate its dust'contents, is

thoroughly dried so as toA give a highcaloric effect in combustionh I The washing of blast furnace gas isa well-known'art, but heretofore part of the advantage'gained from the. cleanliness of washed gas has been lost by not having it properly dried. Many attempts have been vertical uptakes or down-legsy connecting the gas mains with stoves and boilers; or rotary `surfaces out of the path of the gas. difficulty has been to design an apparatus .which would perform' these duties and vet fans were used for this purpose. The long flues will eliminate only a smallpart of themoisture; ordinary'baftles placedl iin the top of verticalv towers will eliminate moisture, but the drops formed continue to fall back into"`the path of the gas, and a complete drying is prevented; fans are expensive to operate vand their use should be avoided.

I have found by a large amount of experimentation that the most eflicient way to eliminate moisture from'washed blast furnace gas is to force it to impinge horizontally against vertical baffles placed at an, angle to the movement of `the gas and re'- peating this action until all they moisture is' removed. The moisture collects in a film on these batlies and fows downwardly on tl'fir i' not clog in operation. I have overcome this difficulty vby making the entire surface of the baffles accessible to sprays which can be operated from the outside of r-thelcasing, per- Speeication of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. i, 191e.

mitting them to be flushed at intervals, and by providingv free drainage at the bottom of the apparatus, allowing the water to flow off continuously without loss of vgas and permittingany solids which may have collected to be drawn off intermittently through aV suitable opening.

I have found that efficient drying is not possible on veins covered with a heavy flow In fact such veins should not'v of water. contain on .their surfaces any water except that eliminated from the gas. I have discovered that a moist surface has more capillary attraction for the moisture ofthe gas than a wet surface. I, therefore, operate` the drying stage without applying additional water, but arrange the apparatus 1n ,such a way-that f'every surface in it can be washed off at: intervals, preferably once a day, and that;allaccumulations of dirt are readily and automatically removed from the bottom of the apparatus by such flushing. I have also discovered that in order to effectively `dry the gas, the velocity of lHow of the same through the drier must be between v certain definite limits.

on the veins. If it istoo fast, too /much moisture is carried along with the gas.

' YI preferably employ a cylindrical casing vabout twice the diameter of the gas pipes in which the blast furnace gasis usually conducted. This gives a velocity of not less than Vfive (5) feet and not to exceed fifteen (15) 'feet pervsecond in the open sections of the range the baffles in pairs, preferably providing three pairs, and providing sprays fory each side of each pair. In operation, I

If the flow be` too slow,the--iinping1ng action is lessened and not sufficientk of the moisture is'deposited prefer to spray these baffles insequence. In v that manner thev water taken up by the gas during'the spraying of all but the last pair of baffles, will be deposited on succeeding baffles before it leaves .the casing. Inasmuch as the last .set of baffles is the cleanest,

,'this pair will require washingw at longer intervals. Y

Apparatus similar to that shown herein,

is irst illustrated in my co-pending application, Serial No. 36,818 June 28, 1915. The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying of the vertical batiles in the casing.

. Referring more'particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that I provide a cylin- .i

drical casing 10 having a gas inlet 11 and a gas outlet 12. Arranged within the casing are three series of vertically disposed baffles or slats, each series being composed ot two rows of said battles. The batiles or slats 13 are preferably composed of wood, and the slats of'eacli pair are placed at an angle of substantially ninety degrees to each other, and at an angle of substantially forty-live degrees to the motion of the gas passing through the casing. The baiies are supported at their lower end on plates '14, suitably secured to the shell 10, and the lower portions ot which plates are cutaway as at 15 to provide tor the escape of separated moisture. ilhe moisture separated from the ygas falls to the lower portion of the casing into the outlet portion 16, the lower'portion of which is provided with a valve 17 by means of which the casing may be drained and any collected sediment or solid matter removed. The water drains oil continuously through the gasseal pipe 18, which in its bend con tains sucient head ot' water to prevent any gas from escaping. The upper portion of the casing is provided with manholes 19' 'through which access may be gained to the casing as desired.

The gas in passing horizontally through the casing impinges the battles, or slats, and the entrained' moisture is `deposited in a thin film on the surfaces of the bailies, from which it trickles downwardly and inally escapes from the casing. It will be noted that after the water is removed from the gas it does not again-come in contact with the gas, but immediately leaves the path thereof without 'the opportunity of being again taken up, lt has been/found that a quantity of slime and Very fine particles ot solid matter accumulate on the battles and, to provide for the cleaning thereof'and the removal of this foreign matter without stopping the operation of the drier, I provide a series of spray nozzles 20, 21, 22, 23. so arranged as to completely flush the inside surface of all of the battles. rIhe water sprayed on the baftles flushes the solid matter therefrom and mesmo' immediately leaves the path of the gas. If

, desired, additionalspraysl may be vinserted through the manholes 19.

The battles can vbe disposed in single or in Modifications other than those referred tov may lbe readily made by those skilled in the art and I do not, therefore, wish to be limited to the exact form shown and described. I claim: i 1. In a gas drier, the combination ot a horizontal casing, a plurality' of rows of vertically disposed battles within said cas-- ing, the battles of one row being disposed at .an angle to the battles of an adjacent row,

and means for sequentially spraying said battles to remove accumulations therefrom, whereby water taken up by the liras during the spraying of said bailles shall be deposited upon others of said battles, substantially as described.

2. In al gas drier, the combinationroii a horizontally disposed casing, a plurality ot rows of flat, vertically disposed battles iny said casing, said rows of battles being arranged in pairs and the bailies oit adjacent rows being arranged at right angles to each other and means for spraying each row of battles. substantially as described.

y8. In a gas drier, the combination of a horizontally disposed casing, a plurality ot rows of flat, vertically disposed bales in lll@ said casing, said rows of battles beingar-y ranged in pairs and the bailies of adjacent rows being arranged at right angles to each other, and means for spravingsaid baliies to remove accumulated solids, substantially as described. i l

fl. In a gas drier. the combination'of a horizontally disposed casing, a plurality ot rows of `dat, vertically disposed battles in said casing, said rows of battles being arranged in pairs and the baiiles of adjacent rows being arranged at right angles to each other, and means for sequentially spraying each pair ci battles. whereby water taken up by the gas during the spraying operation of one pair of bellies may be deposited on an adjacent pair of battles, substantially as described.

5. In a gas drier, the combination of a horizontal casing having an inlet communieating with a gas main, a plurality of rows of vertically disposed battles within said casing, said casing` having an effective di-` ameter substantially twice that of its inlet, tothe end that the passage of gas through the casing shall be at a speed less than that at which the moisture will be Carried along with the gas and greater than that at which no water is deposited on said baiie's, substantially as described. f 6. In 'a gas drier, the combination of a horizontal casing' and a Yplurality of rows of straight-sided, vertically-disposed Wooden balles in said casing, the baies of each row being disposed at an angle to the 

